1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cock of the type comprising a hollow body having aligned admission and discharge orifices for a fluid to be controlled, and a cylindrical bore which is formed within a lateral wall of the hollow body and opens into this latter between the admission and discharge orifices, a cock head having a normally stationary member which is mounted within said bore, and a valve member movably mounted within said stationary member and displaceable towards and away from a valve seat in order to control the rate of flow of fluid.
The invention is primarily and not exclusively applicable to installations for the distribution of sanitary water.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When the seal of the movable valve member or of the associated seat of a cock for controlling the supply of water to a utilization appliance is worn, the seal has to be replaced. It is accordingly necessary to cut-off the water within the water-supply circuit of the appliance upstream of the cock whose seal has to be replaced. It is for this reason that water distribution installations are usually provided with at least one general stop-valve which controls the water supply to the entire installation. In addition, when the installation has a branched structure, it may prove necessary in such a case to provide at least one other stop-valve at the starting point of each main branch of the installation. When a single general stop-valve is provided, a change of seal of a cock entails the need to cut-off the water supply to the entire installation, with the result that all utilization appliances connected to the installation are deprived of water during the time required to replace the defective seal. The same situation arises when a stop-valve is provided in each main branch of the installation. In this instance, however, the only utilization appliances to be deprived of water during the time required to change a defective seal are those connected to the branch in which the stop-valve is closed. Furthermore, when a stop-valve is provided in each main branch of the installation and if this installation has a large number of main branches, it is necessary in such a case to provide a corresponding number of stop-valves, thus increasing the cost of the installation (parts and labor cost). Moreover, in both cases, the stop-valve is seldom located in the immediate vicinity or even in the same room as the cock in which a defective seal is to be replaced. A change of seal thus involves the need to walk back and forth at frequent intervals between the cock whose seal is to be changed and the stop-valve, which represents a waste of time.
In order to overcome the disadvantages mentioned in the foregoing, one obvious possibility would consist in mounting a stop-valve in the immediate vicinity of each cock and in series with this latter in order to permit ready replacement of the cock seal whenever the need arises. However, this would produce a substantial increase in overall cost of the installation.
The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a cock which has its own incorporated stop-valve without entailing any appreciable increase in overall cost of the fluid distribution installation.